We still don’t know if Portugal’s next government will last until the end or if it will implode like the minority-backed government that came out of the 2009 elections. Many observers are worried about this and several politicians have mentioned that stability is fundamental for the country’s future.

What is not being talked about, however, is something that I thought had been learned over the last few years: that Portugal is a lot less relevant than its politicians are ready to admit. The country largely depends on external factors which are beyond the political control of the members of parliament that were elected yesterday, there’s not much more they can do other than try to catch up with the instructions coming from outside and implement them thoroughly. I used to think that the events which led Portugal into requesting a financial assistance program four years ago had helped to create a certain sense of perspective in the minds of our politicians – I thought our leaders would recognize that the most relevant factors that play into the country’s future lie mostly outside its borders…it seems I was wrong. We just need to remember of the contagion that pushed several Eurozone countries to the brink of bankruptcy and how unfavourable circumstances in our main trade partners can seriously affect our recovery prospects. Even totalitarian states are dependent on external factors beyond their control, let alone small democracies which have displaced many of their decision centres elsewhere.

The truth is, this parliamentary election is not much more than a regional election, one which decides who will implement the policies whose main guidelines are not defined in Portugal. Its only importance derives from how willing the winners are to implement them (or not). The PàF coalition and the Socialist Part rarely raise any objections to that and the voters aren’t willing to take the chance of choosing a breakaway party, hence my conclusion that this election is a kind of a sociological barometer, not more than that. Unfortunately many are unable to see this, partly due to the distortion operated by our politicians who present us their facts like a truth which is not to be questioned.

Perhaps political parties could show that they are becoming more mature, step forward and say unambiguously: we are a lot less sovereign than what we have been telling you. It’s not a vote winner, I get that, but a democracy cannot live off power delusions alone. Perhaps this would be one way to address the growing lack of interest (abstention hit a record of over 43%). Even if the financial rescue program has ended, Portugal is still bound by certain obligations, a phenomenon which is not exclusive to this country and which reflects a growing malfunction of European democracies in the last few years.

In the name of coherence and to address the need to recognize this situation, the best thing would be to appoint Mario Draghi as a member of the next cabinet, or at least give him a parliament seat. If that’s too difficult for the Portuguese political parties to handle, then let the ECB President get a decoration or two from the President of the Portuguese Republic, in recognition of services paid to the country (or services paid to the Eurozone, doesn’t matter).